DOCSLIB.ORG

Taisho¯ Democracy

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Taisho¯ Democracy M928 HANNEMAN TEXT M/UP.qxd 16/8/07 11:47 AM Page 58 Gary Gary's G4:Users:Gary:P 3 Taisho¯ Democracy he period of great change that is called Taisho¯ democracy proved Tto be one of the busiest times of Nyozekan’s life. In these early years of his career as a journalist, Nyozekan threw himself into his chosen calling as a “critic of civilization.” In addition to writing books, he wrote and traveled for the Osaka Asahi Shimbun, and after leaving the newspaper, launched two successive magazines. The period of Taisho¯ democracy spurred Nyozekan’s hopes of seeing the trend toward liberalism fulfilled in Japan. But before the period was over, his hope gave way to disillusion with the course of political trends. Taken at face value, and ignoring the undercurrents of authori- tarianism present in the Meiji period (for example, the emperor- centered Meiji Constitution), the Taisho¯ period seemed the next step in a natural evolution toward participatory democracy. The period was characterized by the implementation of policies that supported democracy, for example the move toward government conducted by the lower house of the Diet consisting of represen- tatives popularly elected by universal manhood suffrage. This kind of government and society, intellectuals believed, was possible under the Meiji Constitution and could be achieved through gradual and peaceful change.1 But the aspirations for democratic change were not just limited to intellectuals: according to Sugimura Takeshi, a journalist active at the time, the Taisho¯ period was an era during which, “In terms of the thinking of the masses, the imported ideas of Western democracy flowed into the country . this was the thread that ran through the Taisho¯ era.”2 In the international arena, the guiding principles of Taisho¯ democ- racy advocated an end to Japan’s aggressive policies in Asia and urged Japanese membership in the international community. The brief ascendancy of these guiding principles defines the period of Taisho¯ democracy better than dates, for this era of prewar M928 HANNEMAN TEXT M/UP.qxd 16/8/07 11:47 AM Page 59 Gary Gary's G4:Users:Gary:P Taisho¯ Democracy 59 liberalism extended beyond the Taisho¯ reign (1912–26) from which it derives its name. Liberal currents were evident in Japanese politics as early as the late nineteenth century. The Popular Rights Movement, for example, “sought the establishment of a popularly-elected system of parliamentary government (minsei giin) based on the theory of natural rights and popular sovereignty.”3 But it was the Taisho¯ polit- ical crisis, several decades later, which seemed to set Japanese poli- tics on the course toward true democracy. In December 1912, following the new emperor’s accession to the throne in July, the army forced the collapse of the second Saionji cabinet. Despite public outcry against the strong-arm tactics of the army, the genró appointed Katsura Taro as Saionji’s replacement. The appointment of Katsura, who was strongly identified with clique government, intensified the public outcry, which coalesced into the “Movement to Protect Constitutional Government” under Inukai Tsuyoshi and Ozaki Yukio, former leaders of the earlier popular rights movement. Katsura was forced out of office. Thus, the popular movement to protest against government tactics in the Taisho¯ political crisis demonstrated the burgeoning liberal trends in Japanese society. By strengthening the role of the parties, it also contributed to progress toward two-party government, ultimately culminating in Seiyukai leader Hara Kei’s appointment to the premiership in 1918. The year 1918 was critical in the period of Taisho¯ democracy for other reasons as well. Indeed, Andrew Barshay has called 1918 the “crucial fulcrum” of the era. That August, popular distress over the inflation and financial dislocation of the war years erupted in the Rice Riots. Intellectuals, notably journalists like Nyozekan, protested for more abstract reasons: not only were they opposed to the anti-Soviet Siberian Expedition, they were also inflamed by the government’s repression of the press and the remote nature of domestic politics as reflected in the persistence of “transcendental cabinets.” But it was the nationwide popular protest over sky- rocketing rice prices that prompted Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake to call out 92,000 troops4 that had the more immediate impact in bringing about the resignation of Terauchi’s transcen- dental cabinet. This resignation provided the opening for Hara’s party government, and although the transcendental cabinet was not yet dead, it was dying and by 1924 had expired. The year 1925 brought another benchmark of Taisho¯ democracy with the passage of the universal manhood suffrage bill. The simul- taneous passage of the Peace Preservation Law, however, took the shine off this victory of liberal principles, and like the Terauchi gov- ernment’s press censorship in the midst of the Rice Riots, it hinted.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Japan Between the Wars
    JAPAN BETWEEN THE WARS The Meiji era was not followed by as neat and logical a periodi- zation. The Emperor Meiji (his era name was conflated with his person posthumously) symbolized the changes of his period so perfectly that at his death in July 1912 there was a clear sense that an era had come to an end. His successor, who was assigned the era name Taisho¯ (Great Righteousness), was never well, and demonstrated such embarrassing indications of mental illness that his son Hirohito succeeded him as regent in 1922 and re- mained in that office until his father’s death in 1926, when the era name was changed to Sho¯wa. The 1920s are often referred to as the “Taisho¯ period,” but the Taisho¯ emperor was in nominal charge only until 1922; he was unimportant in life and his death was irrelevant. Far better, then, to consider the quarter century between the Russo-Japanese War and the outbreak of the Manchurian Incident of 1931 as the next era of modern Japanese history. There is overlap at both ends, with Meiji and with the resur- gence of the military, but the years in question mark important developments in every aspect of Japanese life. They are also years of irony and paradox. Japan achieved success in joining the Great Powers and reached imperial status just as the territo- rial grabs that distinguished nineteenth-century imperialism came to an end, and its image changed with dramatic swiftness from that of newly founded empire to stubborn advocate of imperial privilege. Its military and naval might approached world standards just as those standards were about to change, and not long before the disaster of World War I produced revul- sion from armament and substituted enthusiasm for arms limi- tations.
    [Show full text]
  • It Would Make No Sense for Article 9 to Mean What It Says, Therefore It Doesn’T
    Volume 11 | Issue 39 | Number 2 | Article ID 4001 | Sep 29, 2013 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus It Would Make No Sense for Article 9 to Mean What it Says, Therefore It Doesn’t. The Transformation of Japan's Constitution 日本国憲法の変容 9条の文面は意味不明。しかるに文 字通り受け止めるべからず C. Douglas Lummis It should be done quietly. One day everybody woke up and found that the Weimar Constitution had been Nihonkoku Kenpo Kaisei Soan (Proposal for changed, replaced by the Nazi Amendment of the Constitution of Japan) Constitution. It changed without anyone noticing. Maybe we could Central Office for the Promotion of learn from that. No hullabaloo. Constitutional Reform: Drafting Committee The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan Aso was bombarded with criticism from within Japan and from around the world, from people 27 April, 2012 shocked to learn that there is a political leader Nihonkoku Kenpo Kaisei Soan: Q&A (Proposal in a major democratic country who could for Amendment of the Constitution of Japan: confess to believing that something useful Q&A) about how to deal with democratic constitutions can be learned from the Nazi Central Office for the Promotion ofexample. After a couple of days, he “retracted” Constitutional Reform the statement. Trouble is, you can’t talk the cat back into the bag once you’ve let it out. And The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan also, if you make a statement that reveals your dreadful ignorance (The Weimar Constitution October, 2012 was never amended by the Nazis; the Nazis did not take over the government “quietly”) There is a rumor in Japan that Aso Taro, former retracting it will not persuade people that you Prime Minister and present Deputy Prime weren’t so ignorant after all.
    [Show full text]
  • Yalın Akçevin History of Modern Japan 1 Between Empire And
    Yalın Akçevin History of Modern Japan Between Empire and Democracy: Japan’s Taishō Experience Beginning under the reign of the Taishō emperor, with the cabinet of the first commoner Prime Minister Hara Takashi in 1918, the Empire of Japan experienced a period of democratic and liberal ascendancy until 1932, when Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated on May 15 by young naval officers wherewith a definitive slide towards militarism took hold. Looking at the rise and fall of this section of the Taishō Democracy period, which lasted for fourteen years between 1918 and 1932, I would argue that the rise and decline of democracy and liberalism in Imperial Japan coincided with the fall and rise of an aggressive empire building campaign in Asia. Furthermore, despite being a “failure” in the practice of democracy and liberalism, the experience of the Taishō Democracy does not show that democracy and liberalism have been – and/or still are – incompatible with and are fundamentally alien to Japan. What the Japanese experience in this period rather shows is that democracy in this period rested on shaky grounds with a weak defense, which allowed it to be washed aside by more aggressive forces bent on imposing their will on Imperial Japan. Looking into the rise of democratic and liberal political trends in 1918, one thing that can be seen definitively is that these developments came at a time when the peacetime empire of Japan reached its greatest extent, the pursuit of empire calmed down, and equality with the West was thought to be achieved. Japan was a victorious Allied power and a party to the Paris Peace Conference that would follow in 1919, the empire stretched from Korea to “South Seas” in Micronesia, and there was a noticeable lack of immediate enemies to the empire with the West in alliance, Russia in turmoil, and China crippled as it had been for the past half century.
    [Show full text]
  • Japan Imperial Institution: Discourse and Reality of Political and Social Ideology
    Volume 3, Issue 10, October– 2018 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology ISSN No:-2456-2165 Japan Imperial Institution: Discourse and Reality of Political and Social Ideology Reihani Suci Budi Utami I Ketut Surajaya Under graduate student Japanese Studies Program Professor of History, Department of History, Faculty of Humanities University Indonesia, Depok 16424, Japanese Studies Program Faculty of Humanities University Indonesia Indonesia, Depok 16424, Indonesia Abstract:- This study discussed the position and role of state slogan Fukoku Kyouhei(Strong Military Rich State) the Emperor based on two Constitutions that have been proclaimed by Meiji government. and are in force in Japan, namely the Meiji Constitution and the 1947 Constitution. The focus of this study was to The Japan State Constitution, passed in 1946 and describe Articles governing the position and role of the implemented in 1947, was compiled during the American Emperor in Japanese government are implemented. The Occupation under General Douglas MacArthur. Democracy study found that articles governing the position of and peace were the ideological foundation of the 1947 Emperor in the Meiji Constitution were not properly Constitution. The Imperial Institution was separated from implemented due to military domination in the the State institutions that run the Government. The position government. Emperor Hirohito in reality did not have of the Emperor as symbol of State union shall not interfere full power in carrying out his functions according to the in administration affairs of the Government. institution. Articles governing the position and function of the Emperor in the 1947 Constitution are proper. In the Meiji Constitution, the Emperor was a Head of Emperor Hirohito, who was later replaced by Prince State who had wide prerogative rights.
    [Show full text]
  • The Constitution of Japan (1947)
    Primary Source Document with Questions (DBQs) THE CONSTITUTION OF JAPAN (1947) Introduction The American Occupation of Japan was premised on the notion that the thorough demilitarization and democratization of the defeated nation would make the world forever safe from the renewed threat of Japanese aggression. The drafting of a new, democratic constitution was considered essential to Japan’s recasting as a peaceful member of the community of nations. After a Japanese commission failed to produce a new national constitution sufficiently progressive for the Occupation’s liking, a document was drafted (over the span of only a week’s time) in-house by American staff and presented to the Japanese government for translation and enactment. The Japanese had no choice but to follow orders and the new constitution, somewhat awkwardly worded as the result of its English-language origins, was promulgated in November 1946 and came into effect on May 3, 1947. Many scholars have noted the irony of the Occupation installing democratic political institutions in Japan through transparently authoritarian means: the Japanese, it has been said, were “forced to be free” by their American occupiers. Nonetheless, the 1947 Constitution was readily embraced by the Japanese people and has endured (with not a single amendment over the past six decades) as a sound basis for Japan’s postwar democracy. The most celebrated section of the 1947 Constitution is Article 9, often called the “no war” clause. Debate swirled immediately around Article 9, which was very popular among the Japanese people but which proved troubling to the United States. Although American Occupation officials drafted the “no war” clause, American military planners soon sought a remilitarized Japan as an ally in the Cold War and found Article 9 a serious impediment.
    [Show full text]
  • Constitutional Reform in Japan
    Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive Faculty Scholarship Faculty Publications 2019 Constitutional Reform in Japan Nobuhisa Ishizuka Columbia Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, and the Law and Politics Commons Recommended Citation Nobuhisa Ishizuka, Constitutional Reform in Japan, 33 COLUM. J. ASIAN L. 5 (2019). Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2714 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Scholarship Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholarship Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 2019] CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM IN JAPAN 5 CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM IN JAPAN Nobuhisa Ishizukm INTRODUCTION Over seventy years ago it would have seemed inconceivable in the aftermath of a calamitous war that a complete reorientation of Japan into a pacifist society, modeled on Western principles of individual rights and democracy, would succeed in upending a deeply entrenched political order with roots dating back centuries.2 The post-war Japanese constitution lies at the heart of this transformation. Drafted, negotiated and promulgated a mere fourteen months after Japan's formal surrender, 3 it has remained a model of stability amidst transformational changes in the domestic and international political landscape. 4 In the seventy-plus years since its adoption, it has not been amended once.s 1 Executive Director, Center for Japanese Legal Studies, and Lecturer in Law, Columbia Law School. The author would like to acknowledge the research assistance of Nicole Frey, Columbia Law School LL.M.
    [Show full text]
  • Geography of Japan
    Family (The Emperor’s Family) Ie (family) system • The Civil Code of Meiji, 1898 Ie (family) consists of the head of the household and other members who live in the same house, and registered in one registry (Koseki) • This system was abolished in the new constitution in 1947. The Traditional Family • Head of the household is the unquestioned boss • The wishes and desires of individual family members must be subordinated to the collective interest of family • The eldest son is the heir both to the family fortunes and to the responsibility of family (primogeniture) • Marriages often arranged by parents • Several generations of family members live together Responsibilities of the Head of the Household • Economic welfare of the family, duty to support the family • Administration of family property • Welfare of deceased ancestors, conducting proper ceremonies in their honor • Overseeing conduct and behavior of family members Joining the Family • By birth • By marriage • Adoption The Contemporary Family • Nuclear Family • Marriage: Miai & Ren-ai marriages • Husband and Wife Relationships • Divorce • Old Age Koseki: Family Registration System • Today’s koseki system: only two generations of family, husband and wife and children who share the same family name. • Jūminhyō: residence card • Ie (Kazoku) seido : institutionalized family system • 1898 Civil code • 1947 New Civil Code: Family system and the right of primogeniture were abolished. Equal rights for men and women Changing Status of Women The first female governor of Tokyo since August 2016. Japanese Women in the Modern History • 1868 Meiji Restoration • 1872 The Fundamental Code of Education requires four years of compulsory education for both boys and girls.
    [Show full text]
  • TIME for HENRY C. CAREY, NOT HARAKIRI the Forgotten Legacy of Tsuyoshi Inukai by Asuka Burke
    III. Two World Systems TIME FOR HENRY C. CAREY, NOT HARAKIRI The Forgotten Legacy of Tsuyoshi Inukai by Asuka Burke This article was composed in 2015-16. At the beginning of the last century, Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) and Tsuyoshi Inukai1 (1855-1932) jointly embarked on a mission to introduce the American System of political economy to Asia. While Sun’s idea has seen its blossoming today with President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative, in Japan, Inukai’s legacy is almost lost in oblivion. That contrast is not a mere differ- ence in economic policy—it is fundamental. The following report2 will un- cover a shared history of Japan, China, and implicitly the United States, through the life of Tsuyoshi Bibliotheque Nationale de France Inukai, to rediscover an idea that Japanese Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi (seated center) with members of his cabinet in once united the three, and could, December, 1931. once again, unite them. the way for a “New Deal” in America. Here was a light 1932 at the end of a long tunnel. At the same time, though To better situate the life of Inukai, let us first start unbeknownst to many, a similar situation existed on the with the year 1932, a turning point in world history. In other side of the Pacific: In Japan, Tsuyoshi Inukai, a the United States, despite major opposition from the student of the American System economist Henry C. Wall Street faction inside the Democratic Party, Frank- Carey, won the prime ministership in the early Spring lin D. Roosevelt won the presidential election, paving of 1932.
    [Show full text]
  • Timeline for World War II — Japan
    Unit 5: Crisis and Change Lesson F: The Failure of Democracy and Return of War Student Resource: Timeline for World War II — Japan Timeline for World War II — Japan Pre-1920: • 1853: American Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Tokyo harbor and forced the Japanese to allow trade with U.S. merchants with threat of military action. • 1858: Western nations forced Japan to sign the Unequal Treaties. These articles established export and import tariffs and the concept of "extraterritoriality" (i.e., Japan held no jurisdiction over foreign criminals in its land. Their trials were to be conducted by foreign judges under their own nation's laws). Japan had no power to change these terms. • 1868: Japan, in an effort to modernize and prevent future Western dominance, ousted the Tokugawa Shogunate and adopted a new Meiji Emperor. The next few decades saw rapid and successful industrialization during the Meiji Restoration. • 1899: With newly gained power from recent industrialization, Japan successfully renegotiated aspects of the Unequal Treaties. • 1899–1901: The Boxer Rebellion led China to a humiliating defeat by the Eight-Nation Alliance of Western powers including the United States and Japan, ceding more territory, and dealing one of the final blows to the struggling Qing Dynasty. • 1904–1905: The Russo-Japanese War began with a surprise attack and ended by an eventual Japanese victory over Imperial Russia. The Japanese took control of Korea. • 1914: During World War I, Japan and other Allies seized German colonial possessions. • 1919: Japan, as a member of the victorious Allies during World War I, gained a mandate over various Pacific islands previously part of the German colonial empire.
    [Show full text]
  • The Birth of the Parliamentary Democracy in Japan: an Historical Approach
    The Birth of the Parliamentary Democracy in Japan: An Historical Approach Csaba Gergely Tamás * I. Introduction II. State and Sovereignty in the Meiji Era 1. The Birth of Modern Japan: The First Written Constitution of 1889 2. Sovereignty in the Meiji Era 3. Separation of Powers under the Meiji Constitution III. The Role of Teikoku Gikai under the Meiji Constitution (明治憲法 Meiji Kenp ō), 1. Composition of the Teikoku Gikai ( 帝國議会) 2. Competences of the Teikoku Gikai IV. The Temporary Democracy in the 1920s 1. The Nearly 14 Years of the Cabinet System 2. Universal Manhood Suffrage: General Election Law of 1925 V. Constitutionalism in the Occupation Period and Afterwards 1. The Constitutional Process: SCAP Draft and Its Parliamentary Approval 2. Shōch ō ( 象徴) Emperor: A Mere Symbol? 3. Popular Sovereignty and the Separation of State Powers VI. Kokkai ( 国会) as the Highest Organ of State Power VII. Conclusions: Modern vs. Democratic Japan References I. INTRODUCTION Japanese constitutional legal history does not constitute a part of the obligatory legal curriculum in Hungary. There are limited numbers of researchers and references avail- able throughout the country. However, I am convinced that neither legal history nor comparative constitutional law could be properly interpreted without Japan and its unique legal system and culture. Regarding Hungarian-Japanese legal linkages, at this stage I have not found any evidence of a particular interconnection between the Japanese and Hungarian legal system, apart from the civil law tradition and the universal constitutional principles; I have not yet encountered the Hungarian “Lorenz von Stein” or “Hermann Roesler”. * This study was generously sponsored by the Japan Foundation Short-Term Fellowship Program, July-August, 2011.
    [Show full text]
  • The Move to Global War Japan 1931-1941
    Timeline of Key Events - Paper 1 - The Move to Global War Japan 1931-1941 Revision Activities - Remembering the chronological order and specific dates is an ​ important skill in IBDP History and can help you to organise the flow of events and how they are connected. Studied the timeline of key events below, taken from the IBDP specification, and test yourself often. ​ Japanese Foreign Policy Events - Events related to International Cooperation and ​ ​ Collective Security - International Responses to Japanese Aggression ​ ​ 1853 July - Commodore Perry sails into Nagasaki harbour to open trade negotiations ​ ​ ​ ​ with the Japanese emperor 1854 31 March - Treaty of Kanagawa with the USA signed by Shogun Tokugawa ​ ​ ​ Yoshinobu 1868 3 January - Meiji Restoration - Restoration of Meiji rule is declared. The Boshin ​ ​ ​ ​ War breaks out between forces of the ex-Tokugawa Shogun and Imperial Court. ​ 1873 Mass conscription is introduced ​ 1874 1 February - Meirokusha (Meiji 6 Society) is formed to promote what is called ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ‘civilisation and enlightenment’ through its social-criticism journal ‘Meiroku Zasshi’ 1877 29 January - The Satsuma Rebellion of disaffected Samurai begins. By ​ ​ ​ September, its leader, Saigo Takamori, committed suicide ending the last and most serious uprising against the new Meiji government 1881 Gen'yōsha (Dark/Black Ocean Society) founded in Japan as an ultranationalist ​ secret political and social group. It used criminal means to achieve its ends, believing in Pan-Asianism and called for increasing Japanese influence over mainland Asia. 1882 4 January - The Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors is published. ​ ​ ​ Established the principle of absolute loyalty to the Emperor, and banned soldiers from expressing political opinions or comments on imperial policy 1889 11 February - The Emperor promulgates the Constitution of the Empire of Japan ​ ​ providing Japan with a constitutional monarchy on the Prussian model.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 1. Meiji Revolution: Start of Full-Scale Modernization
    Seven Chapters on Japanese Modernization Chapter 1. Meiji Revolution: Start of Full-Scale Modernization Contents Section 1: Significance of Meiji Revolution Section 2: Legacies of the Edo Period Section 3: From the Opening of Japan to the Downfall of Bakufu, the Tokugawa Government Section 4: New Meiji Government Section 5: Iwakura Mission, Political Crisis of 1873 and the Civil War Section 6: Liberal Democratic Movement and the Constitution Section 7: End of the Meiji Revolution It’s a great pleasure to be with you and speak about Japan’s modernization. Japan was the first country and still is one of the very few countries that have modernized from a non-Western background to establish a free, democratic, prosperous, and peace- loving nation based on the rule of law, without losing much of its tradition and identity. I firmly believe that there are quite a few aspects of Japan’s experience that can be shared with developing countries today. Section 1: Significance of Meiji Revolution In January 1868, in the palace in Kyoto, it was declared that the Tokugawa Shogunate was over, and a new government was established under Emperor, based on the ancient system. This was why this political change was called as the Meiji Restoration. The downfall of a government that lasted more than 260 years was a tremendous upheaval, indeed. It also brought an end to the epoch of rule by “samurai,” “bushi” or Japanese traditional warriors that began as early as in the 12th century and lasted for about 700 years. Note: This lecture transcript is subject to copyright protection.
    [Show full text]